Opinion on used Keeley Compressor

[dan_]

Hey all,

Looking for your feedback on this situation. So, I've been looking to add a compressor to my rig, and came across a used Keeley compressor for $150. I'm guessing it's the older style model (with the power plug on the side).

I noticed a bit of rust around the washer/nut, and it's making me a little nervous as to what's going on inside the pedal. I've attached the images the seller has sent me here:

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4003/img7002op1.th.jpg (http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img7002op1.jpg)http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2643/img7003hb0.th.jpg (http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img7003hb0.jpg)


Am I being overly paranoid here? I need some honest opinions here. Thanks guys (and girls) :food-smiley-004:

[mhammer]

That's a much older one without the recovery adjustment, so it is basically a Ross clone, and is also much earlier in the refinement of the unit. Twer I, get yourself a 5-knob BYOC compressor for the same money. Guaranteed to give you all the mojo of the new Keeleys and overcome some of the traditional shortcomings of the basic Dynacomp design (on which the Ross is based).

[dan_]

That's a much older one without the recovery adjustment, so it is basically a Ross clone, and is also much earlier in the refinement of the unit. Twer I, get yourself a 5-knob BYOC compressor for the same money. Guaranteed to give you all the mojo of the new Keeleys and overcome some of the traditional shortcomings of the basic Dynacomp design (on which the Ross is based).

Thanks for the heads up on the design differences on the older models. That's a dealbreaker. I thought I stumbled on a decent deal..obviously not.

[Stratin2traynor]

I agree with the BYOC recommendation. I have a GoudieFx Compressor which is touted as a Ross clone. Sounds fantastic. I'm sure the new 5 knob BYOC sound just as good if not better.

[Chito]

If you're looking for a Ross-clone compressor like the Keeley, you might want to look into the GoudieFx Compressor. Pedal is excellent and the service is great. Also Canadian-made!!

http://www.goudiefx.com/compressor.php

[mhammer]

The Goudie guts shot shows solid workmanship and low-noise resistors, which is a good sign.

Is 5 "better" than 2? The BYOC 5-knob job addresses some concerns that many players have expressed about the downside of compressors and are not supposed to add wild features that create new sounds.

For example, since the compressor's sidechain is going to be most sensitive to whatever parts of the signal are loudest, it is a common issue with single-band compressors (to be distinguished from their larger rackmount cousins that split the signal into multiple ranges and compress each one a little differently) that lower notes/frequencies result in the top end of a 6-string chord being attenuated too much, so you'll hear complaints about loss of sparkle or note definition. One of the controls on the 5-knobber is for blending a bit of unaffected/uncompressed signal back in to retain that sparkle.

Though it is often labelled/legended "attack" on many stompboxes, one of the added controls adjusts the recovery time of the sidechain. When you pick a note or strum a chord, the compressor will pull the gain down, proportional to how hard you picked/strummed. It will hold the gain down for a little while, only gradually letting it come back up again. The gradualness has the pleasant effect of simulating sustain since it creates the illusion of the level staying constant. While that's great if you want to hold notes, it gets in the way if you want to pick faster than that because the full gain will not have been restored in time if the next picked note occurs too soon. As a result, you'll miss out on the initial attack of that note. The attack control simply varies a single resistor that permits the sidechain to "recover" faster...or slower, and adjust the feel of the compressor. Generally, compressors like the Orange Squeezer, that people describe as feeling more transparent, have a fast recovery time that permits solid compression with a bit more of the initial attack retained. If you want to be Paul Kossoff, you won't need it. If you plan on being Brad Paiseley once in a while, you'll appreciate it. Since the clean-blend has no compression applied to it, working the clean-blend, recovery, and compression-amount controls will let you nail many different feels and degrees of sustain or darkness/brightness.

Again, these are all solutions to problems that a great many users simply don't have. There is a very good reason why many classic desirable compressors only have 2 knobs. However, in some cases, the 2 knobs that are visible belie the changes that may have been made inside to make those two knobs all the person needed for regular use. The 5-knobber simply puts all that stuff out front so that a person can take what is essentially a Dynamcomp and turn it into the Dynacomp that has been modded for them.

[Budda]

PM R O Tiree at www.guitarists.net about his custom comp. this thing has kicked keeley's off boards.